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My FAVORITE Homemade Marshmallows

September 4, 2015

With their ultra-fluffiness and intensely-delicious vanilla flavor, Homemade Marshmallows are one confection I highly recommend for your cooking bucket list. They are completely-and-totally worth the homemade time and effort!CLICK HERE TO PIN THIS FOR LATER

Have you ever made homemade bagels? I have. Once. And only once.

Then homemade bagels very quickly went on my "things it's not worth the effort to make from scratch" list. I don't know about you, but I personally don't care to spend hours and hours making boiled lumps of rock-hard dough balls.

See, some things are just not worth the time and effort to make yourself when there are perfectly good versions available at the store.

Bagels? ... Definitely fall into that category.

But marshmallows?

Homemade Marshmallows are one confection I highly recommend for your cooking bucket list. They are completely-and-totally worth the homemade time and effort!

Now, that's a completely different story!

Despite there being perfectly-puffy-and-wonderful bags of marshmallow yumminess available for us to easily buy at the store, homemade marshmallows are 142% completely-and-totally worth the homemade time and effort.

With their ultra-fluffiness and intensely-delicious vanilla flavor, Homemade Marshmallows are one confection I highly recommend for your cooking bucket list.

For me, nothing compares to the taste and texture of Homemade Marshmallows. It's truly a marshmallow lover's dream.

I was first introduced to them about 15 years ago when a friend made me a big tin-full at Christmas time. I had never heard of making homemade marshmallows at that point in my life, and must say ... didn't even know it was possible.

One bite, and I was hooked. I mean, utterly and completely in love.

Not long after that Christmas, I decided I needed to conquer this new-to-me make-at-home confection. Armed with my friend's recipe that she graciously shared, I set about whipping up my very own batch of homemade marshmallows.

And utterly and completely failed.

Nothing compares to the taste and texture of homemade marshmallows. It's truly a marshmallow lover's dream.

What was supposed to be ethereally-light-and-fluffy pillows of vanilla deliciousness turned into a sloppy, goopy, inedible mess.

Where had I gone wrong?? My batch bore zero resemblance to the beautiful homemade marshmallows my friend had so lovingly created.

While to this day I'm not 100% sure where I went wrong, I chock my complete-marshmallow-failure up to being too "timid" in my marshmallow making ... not cooking the sugar syrup to quite a high enough temperature because I was afraid of burning it ... and not whipping the sugar syrup-gelatin mixture long enough because I was afraid of the ever-growing mass of white ... both mistakes which can lead to the marshmallows not setting up as they should.

Oh, and I also somewhat fault my use of a hand mixer.

While I do believe you can be successful making homemade marshmallows with a hand mixer, I have since learned that a stand mixer makes it much easier {& less time consuming} to whip the marshmallow to the proper texture. {Which, as I learned the hard way, is very important.}

Once the marshmallow mixture is {properly} whipped, it's allowed to set up and dry overnight.

And then, along with the help of lots of confectioners' sugar, can be cut into those fabulously-soft-and-tender, melt-in-your-mouth delicious homemade marshmallows I love and covet so much.

Now, for an extra-extra-special treat, you can cut Homemade Marshmallows into shapes ... like hearts ... with a small cookie cutter {I recommend small metal cookie cutters} ...

... and serve those extra-special shapes up in a scrumptious mug of hot chocolate. So cute, don't you think?

But whether in extra-special shapes or "regular" cubes, I think you'll love the ultra-fluffiness and intensely-delicious vanilla flavor of Homemade Marshmallows as much as I do.

So if you haven't tackled this homemade confection before, be sure to put them on your cooking bucket list. If you're a marshmallow lover, you'll be so glad you did!

Remove sugar syrup from the heat. With the mixer on low speed and fitted with the whisk attachment, slowly pour sugar syrup into the gelatin. Turn mixer up to high speed and whip until very thick, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Line the bottom and sides of a 9x13" glass baking dish with plastic wrap. Spray plastic wrap with non-stick cooking spray and dust generously with confectioners' sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into prepared pan, smooth the top, and dust top with more confectioners' sugar.

Have you tried making these with any Marshmallow Root extract? This is how Marshmallows were originally made and why they are wonderful for sore throats. It gives them that soft, silky mouthfeel. Today's grocery store marshmallows don't include it anymore, but you can find it in the ones at whole foods, health foods, and organic foods stores sometimes... I'd like to include it when I try this recipe, but I'm sure I'll mess it all up without direction!

240° is considered "soft ball" stage. You can check this by dripping some in a cup of cold water; if it immediately forms a soft caramel feel, you're there. If it immediately hardens and cracks, you've gone to hot and are at hard candy stage.

I don't have corn syrup where I live. what can I use instead? I found recipes that say corn syrup are just reduced sugar and water?! my daughter loves marshmallows and I want to make them for her at home. store bought ones are so unhealthy

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About Me

Hi! I'm Tracey, & I'm having fun with home cooking, one recipe at a time! A former businesswoman & teacher turned blogger & Mom, I love my latest career best. Join in the fun as I share tried-&-true recipes for the everyday home cook.